Nissin Di622 MARK II flash

The Nissin ND622MKII is a seriously good new flash to enter the market.

Compared to Canon's 430EX II or Nikon's SB-600 it has the following advantages:

• Better price (~8k php vs ~14.5k php, ~12.5k php respectively)
• Higher guide number (32 vs 31, 30 respectively)

Also has TTL for the "automatic" shooting needs, and pretty much all of the features that can be found with the OEM flashes.

For photography enthusiasts, based on the specs, the price, and the reviews I've read, I highly recommend this flash.

I'm getting one soon, hopefully, to complement my 580EX II

my new ISP

My new ISP is great for my purposes ;) ~1.5mbps download, ~.45 mbps upload. Having it connected is a great way to start the new year.

Burn Notice

There's an interesting idea coming from the TV series, Burn Notice, about team work.

Special-forces squads are built around the skills of the individual members. But no matter how good each member of the squad is, every mission comes down to one thing, how well they work together. Because in the end, you don't need a hero to succeed in the field. You need a team.

Good stuff. Food for thought.

12/31

Every episode leaves me wanting to see more. The way it goes is, it finishes a story but starts with a new lead for the next one.

When you work as a spy, it's easy to think of people as assets. Resources to accomplish a goal. Because you don't have a personal relationship with an asset. You don't care about an asset. You don't miss the scent of an asset when she leaves the room.

13 Jan 2011

Some serious strategy right here. Exactly what you would expect from good players of StarCraft, or any strategy game for that matter :D

For a spy, there's no shame in retreat. When faced with a more powerful enemy you're trained to get out of the way and keep moving. It's not about running away or giving up. The goal of any retreat is to find the right place to marshal your resources and make a stand. Military history is filled with stories of small forces taking on larger ones. Whether it's David fighting Goliath or the French Resistance fighting the Nazis, the strategy is basically the same. You have to choose the right ground, deploy your resources carefully, and remember that the greatest weapon in any battle is surprise.

merry christmas!

wala lang. merry christmas. thankful sa lahat.

happy new year na rin! :D

Changing desktop location (Windows 7)

Recently, I had to reformat my windows partition in order to fix a crash with my OS, booting up was impossible. I lost a lot of files in the process.

Looked around the internet and found that it is possible to change the location of the desktop and documents folders :D. This is convenient in case you need to reformat your main partition.

1. Go to your user folder (i.e. C:\Users\chesster)
2. Right click the Desktop folder -> Properties -> Location
3. Click Move
4. Select the new location (preferably a different partition/completely different storage device)

It is also possible to change the location of other folders (i.e. pictures, music, videos)

Globe Internet Promo Super Surf is BAD (part 2)

Kasunod nitong malupit na 1GB per day internet.

Ngayon naman 800MB per day nalang. Sana kasi, sinesend nila yan kapag nagregister ka palang. Huwag na nilang sabihing unlimited, kasi hindi naman unlimited.

Name:
Number: 8888
Content:
GLOBE Advisory: Ur data subscription for today has reached 800mb. Ur remaining browsing hours will resume tomorrow subject to promo validity. U may opt to forfeit ur remaining subscription to browse for P5/15. To unsubscribe text POWERSURF OFF or SUPERSURF OFF to 8888. This promo is guided by Globe Fair Use Policy.
Time: 06/12/2010 00:00:46

Pero ang pinakamalufet sa promo na iyan, may bug siya. At consumer ang magbabayad ng kamalian ng system. Consumer din ang mahihirapan lalo na kung may kailangan siyang gawing importanteng transaction.

Upload	Download	Total
Dec 4 42835711	759755743	802591454 ~ 802MB
Dec 5 109088468	388222580	497311048 ~ 497MB
Dec 6 746305	122547	868852 ~ 86KB
32149	42395	74544 ~ 74KB

Nung December 4, umabot ako sa 802MB pero ok lang naman, wala namang nag-message sakin na lampas na ko sa limit. Bigla nalang silang nagpalit ng policy ng walang abiso.

Yung point ko talaga is, dapat na reset yung bandwidth ko for December 6. Mali yung system nila, ni-consider niya na out of bandwidth ako for the December 6, when in fact, December 5 ako naka-consume ng full capacity.

Syempre itinawag ko sa kanila. Ipinaliwanag ko na wala naman akong na-consume na bandwidth, pero hindi ako maka-access ng internet. Yung nakausap kong CSR, hindi magets na since may budget pa ako, dapat makakapag internet pa rin ako gamit yung product nila. Nirerequest ko lang na paki-ayos or i-extend yung promo time ko kasi wala nga akong nagamit, at system naman nila ang may kasalanan. Binigyan ko na nga siya ng malufet na analogy. Kung ikaw pumasok ka sa barbershop, nagbayad ka na para sa gupit tapos hindi ka ginupitan dahil sabi nila sa iyo quota na sila nung nakapag bayad ka, matutuwa ka ba? Sagot niya sakin, sorry daw, lesson learned ko raw, wala raw silang magagawa. Napakamot nalang talaga ko kasi sigurado naman may magagawa tungkol sa simpleng problemang ito. Wala silang ginawa siyempre.

Kaya ayun. Hindi ko marerecommend yung product nila.

actions per minute speak louder than words

How do you increase your starcraft actions per minute (APM)? Want to get 1000+ APM?



Using the Razer Mamba mouse, you can simulate spam clicking.

Setup a macro that does five right clicks with one right click

Bind the macro to whichever mouse button you want to utilize

Switch to the configured profile when playing. It is also possible to setup auto switch.

This APM method will not win you games, obviously. :D

If you want to improve your game via APM, natural APM is what you want, not spam click APM. This method is just for fun. XD

glhf

Autumn photos from the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

I had the chance to shoot some high aperture photos in the garden one autumn afternoon (6 June 2010). Here are some of the shots.

mom's sos

She was diagnosed with a spinal disc herniation between L5-S1 parts of her spine. This means that the "padding" between the two parts of the spine is getting dried. As a result, the two bones are compressing some nerves along the area. This compression causes the nerves to malfunction.

The solution to the problem was to get an operation. The operation cannot be prolonged because prolonging the problem may cause nerve damage.

We took mom to the operating room at 2 in the afternoon.
Right now I am just waiting for the operation to finish so I can hug my mom.

I am doing my best to be strong for my mother.

Usana video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubQvFJ6RXsc

chilling out

So, this rainy Saturday na nag-stay ako sa bahay, nasira ulit yung Globe tattoo internet kong napakahusay. Down daw yung system nila and they are working to get it up and going as soon as possible. Well, I hear that quite often enough so ok nalang. Sayang nga lang yung binayad ko para sa unlimited internet. Though, according to the CSR I talked to, babalik naman daw nila pag walang service na naibigay for today.

Last night, I was in a sales motivation training. The speaker was up-Ed, a very successful Usana multilevel marketer. He talked about focus, and priorities, which are the two things that anyone who wants to succeed in anything should get a dose of every now and then. Another interesting thing he talked about was about the concept of “enjoy now, pay later” or “pay now, enjoy later”. It is choosing between increasing income or partaking in the usual juvenile gimiks and trips. It is a hard choice. What wasn’t mentioned and what I’m planning to achieve is the point where I can “enjoy now, enjoy later”, which sounds too good to be true, while avoiding the worst case “pay now, pay later”. Another interesting thought following the concept of the choice between improving income and enjoying life he shared was about choice and discipline. From what I remember, it goes to something like you have to choose to be successful but it is discipline that gets you there.

After the training, me and some friends went out to “enjoy now”.

This is exactly why I stayed home today. To rethink my priorities and to plan my next course of action after my almost 2 year experience filled, nerve crunching, Melbourne, VIC assignment that just finished. I was going to play “a little” starcraft 2 but, as mentioned earlier, the internet broke so I got stuck to writing this post offline.

Globe Internet Promo Super Surf is BAD

Well, wala kasi sa website nila yung info na may limit pala na 1GB per day ang Unlimited Surfing promo nila. Sabay ni-send sa akin itong message.

Name:
Number: 8888
Content:
Globe Advisory: Your account has reached 1GB in usage today. Subject to Globe Fair Use Policy, your internet service has been temporarily deactivated and will resume tomorrow. This promo is intended for moderate use. For heavy browsing, please upgrade to our Tattoo Postpaid plans. Thank you.
Time: 03/10/2010 11:52:29

Wala rin naman sa website yung "Globe Fair Use Policy". Sana nilagay nalang nila na 1GB lang per day para na-budget ko yung bandwidth.

Kaya ayun, hindi ako nakapag-starcraft haha XD